Switchgrass

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is a perennialwarm-season grass native to the grasslands of North America, is a model perennial grass for bioenergy, and is the most advanced herbaceous perennial bioenergy feedstock. Best management practices have been developed for switchgrass bioenergy production for the agroecoregions to which it is adapted. Field production of switchgrass likely will occur on cropland that is marginally productive for row crops, similar to land that was enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program. Long-term, field-scale research demonstrates that switchgrass for bioenergy is productive, profitable for the farmer, and protective of the environment. Switchgrass was selected by the Bioenergy Feedstock Development Program (BFDP) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) as a model herbaceous species because of its potential to simultaneously meet energy demands and address global climate change [1]. It is a perennial, warm-season (C4) grass native to North America that is broadly adapted throughout the United States and is found in every state east of the Rocky Mountains [2]. Like many perennial C4 grasses, switchgrass is highly tolerant to abiotic stresses such as drought, temperature extremes, and salinity. For that reason, it is being recommended for biomass production on marginally productive cropland where it would have minimal land use competition with commercial food crops